Why Zirconium?

Dr Joseph Mercola, a noted American doctor and patient advocate, strongly endorses Zirconium implants over Titanium.He has been featured in TIME magazine, the LATimes, CNN, Fox News and many other media sources. In addition, his website,Mercola.com, is one of the Top 10 internet destinations both in the US and globally for those seeking health resource information.

Dr Thomas Rau, Director of the Paracelsus Institute, Switzerland and noted author & TV commentator in the United States recommends avoiding Titanium implants

When patients come to Dr Rau's clinic for treatment, their first stop is the dentist so that they can have mercury amalgams and root canal jobs removed due to toxic load. While no one thing may necessarily cause illness, he believes cumulative toxic load can overburden the body and lead to illness.

Dr Annemarie Powderly, past Board Member of the Danish Society of Orthomolecular Medicine and a dentist with her own amalgam-free dental clinic located in Copenhagen, Denmark, advocates Zirconium over Titanium. She is recommended as only one of three dentists in all of Denmark who can properly remove and dispose of mercury amalgams and practice holistic dental care by the Danish grassroots bestseller, Kernesund Famile (Completely Healthy Family).

NMI: If a patient came to you and needed to replace teeth, whether a single tooth or several teeth, what kind of implant would you recommend?

Dr Powderly: I always recommend the least invasive procedures first, so I would suggest a partial denture, however, if a patient – or my mother, sister or child – was decided against a partial denture for lifestyle or other reasons, I would recommend the zirconium implants over the titanium. This is based on the research and opinion of Dr Thomas Rau, Director of the Paracelsus Clinic in Switzerland. He states that 15% of all those with titanium dental implants develop auto-immune diseases in 2-3 years post-implant. Although 15% may not seem like a large number, it is a very serious risk if you happen to be one of the 15% - debilitating and life threatening. And once you have an autoimmune disease, you don’t really get rid of it. This is why I would not choose titanium implants myself.

NMI:There has been an increased awareness in the past 10 years that mercury amalgams are unhealthy. Has this reduced the number of removals of mercury amalgams that you do?

Dr Powderly: Denmark has the most restrictive laws on mercury amalgams in all of Europe - for instance, dentists are not allowed to place mercury amalgams into children’s milk teeth. In spite of these restrictions, over 100,000 mercury amalgams were placed last year in Denmark alone. I personally haven’t done a mercury amalgam in 10 years.

NMI:And remind us why mercury amalgams are problematic?

Dr Powderly: Remember the school science project where you created your own battery from lemons, copper and zinc? Well, mercury amalgams contain copper, zinc, mercury, silver, and tin and the acidity in the lemon you get from the saliva in your mouth. So your everyday amalgam is akin to having a functioning battery with a live charge in your mouth. Not to mention the other problems with mercury -- a toxic waste -- which accumulates in the body with toxic effects. We are not allowed to handle mercury amalgams ourselves even as dentists, nor are we allowed to give an extracted tooth with a mercury amalgam to a patient to keep in their drawer at home -- it’s deemed too toxic. As with all other toxic wastes, there are protocols for handling and disposal.

Sometimes I see people with sinus problems, more acne than skin, facial tension, heart irregularities, over-tiredness, headaches, etcetera and when I measure the voltage on the amalgams in their mouth, I can tell that the voltage is probably contributing to their problems. All amalgams have a charge that is 100-400 times the charge of the sinus node in the heart, which regulates that organ’s natural rhythm. Therefore you can see how it can affect the body.

NMI:Why is it that some people seem to be fine even though they have mercury amalgams in their mouths?

Dr Powderly: Because some people are better at detoxing the mercury and others are less sensitive to the electric charge in the amalgam.

NMI:Thank you Dr Powderly for your time today.

Dr Powderly: It’s been a pleasure!

Dr Powderly’s dental clinic is among only a handful of Danish clinics that specialize in both removal of existing mercury amalgams and maintaining optimal dental health without the use of mercury amalgams. She graduated from the University of Copenhagen Dental School in 1994, began holistic dentistry work in 1997 and opened her own clinic in 2005. Dr Powderly is a Member of the Danish Society of Orthomolecular Medicine, where she was a Board Member for 5 years. She has been extensively quoted in the Danish popular press as well as profiled in Dental, the industry magazine for Danish dentists.